Scavenger Hunt
by CharmedReality
Summary: You never know what you'll find in a scavenger hunt. Yozak/Murata.


**Scavenger Hunt**

Yozak tipped his head back, grinning from one ear to the next as he peered up into the tree. "How do you expect us to win the first annual Maou Scavenger Hunt with you climbing trees all day?"

There was no answer from the tree's current resident, but the spy caught a flash off the younger man's glasses and a slight crinkling of his brow that told him he was not particularly amused.

"He really doesn't like you," Yozak continued.

"The feeling is quickly becoming mutual," Murata finally said. At the moment he wasn't entirely sure he liked either of the beasts waiting for him below.

"Aw, how can you say that? T-Zhou is all poofy and cute." Amusement clung to the older man's words and lips as he teased. Absently, Yozak reached out to pet the fuming animal, which was visiting from Caloria. He tried not to think very hard about how it came to be that a sheep was traveling around like some kind of foreign dignitary. He left the heavy thinking to the professionals, like the boy in the tree.

"I'm not Lord von Walde," Murata began, "and you're not the one stuck in a tree with an angry sheep snarling at you." For all his lifetimes of experience and knowledge, he didn't know sheep could snarl until meeting this one. "Speaking of which…" He gave Yozak a pleading look from behind his slightly oversized glasses.

The redhead couldn't help smiling at both the reference to the cute-loving Gwendal and the way the young man with the old soul tried to pull off "innocent." Actually, he had to admit Murata pulled it off pretty well. Maybe he had been a spy in one of those many former lives.

"Come on, T-Zhou, I think Geika wants to come down now." He gave the furious sheep a pat and gently guided him away to a patch of delicious clovers, careful not to become his next target.

"He's a danger," Murata decided as he crept his way back down the tree trunk once Yozak had things under control.

"You can hardly blame him. You did partially shear him."

T-Zhou snorted vehemently at the recent, traumatic memory, but continued eating rather than returning to the two-legged beings who were clearly nothing like his precious Yuuri.

Landing back on the ground with Yozak's hands momentarily on his hips to keep him upright, Murata gave the animal an appropriately sheepish smile and retreated a few steps, hoping to keep the redhead between him and the wooly menace.

Murata pulled a leaf out of his dark hair and raised an eyebrow at his scavenger hunt partner. "You said it would be better if you distracted him while I took the wool."

"Why would you listen to me? I'm just a guy who looks great in a dress. You're the all-knowing great sage. Besides, we have the wool now and we can move on to the next thing on the list."

The younger man raised a skeptical eyebrow, but couldn't argue with the man's logic. He reviewed the remaining scavenger hunt assignments as they steadily retreated from T-Zhou. He and his partner had already made quite a dent in it. The items were all a little trickier to come by than they appeared at first glance.

And they were not the only team running into set backs along the way.

Earlier in the evening the duo had discovered Gwendal more or less fighting off Gunter's amorous advances in the baths. They had been after a bottle of Cheri's perfume, and it seemed some of the fumes had escaped. Or at least that was the popular theory.

It wasn't long after that when they walked in on Dorcas tangled and hanging in a giant net in Anissina's laboratory with Gisela shouting at him for his incompetence. Apparently Murata and Yozak weren't the only ones to go there in search of "something explosive." Murata found himself wondering if anyone had even bothered with the armory.

Next, they found Conrad wearing a strained smile and a hat that looked much heavier than the man under it and Anissina poking at the buttons on the side of it with a scowl on her face. It seemed Find-A-Magical-Artifact-kun wasn't functioning properly without maryoku to power it.

Luckily, Yozak and Murata had managed to procure all those items without difficulties even if shearing a sheep had been…problematic. The advisor was beginning to wonder if the Shinou himself had made up the challenges. He would certainly be the type to enjoy watching the ensuing drama unfold.

Pushing up his glasses, Murata scanned the list to determine what they should pursue next. His lips curved into a smile as he imagined the most likely scene between Yuuri and Wolfram over a particularly scandalous challenge. In fact, he was surprised he couldn't already hear the blond screaming out a chorus of "Cheater" from somewhere on the castle grounds.

"We need women's underwear."

"Speak for yourself."

The dark haired youth cleared his throat before explaining. "It's on the list."

"Suuure it is," came a glib reply served with a wink.

"I assume we can just retrieve a pair from your room?"

"Geika! I'm surprised at you. What makes you think I'd have lady's underwear?"

Murata just cocked one of his eyebrows knowingly.

"Geika, if someone manages to see my underwear when I'm under cover, chances are the jig is up. Some things can't be hidden."

A faint blush crossed the shorter man's cheeks. He may have possessed an old soul and thousands of years' worth of experience in all manner of things, but that didn't mean his current body was experienced. "Well, maybe we should try the maid's room then."

"Why the maids? Does Geika have a crush?" Yozak teased as they walked back toward the castle.

"Because going through Greta's things would be wrong, Lady von Spitzburg would consider it an invitation, and, frankly, I'm afraid of Lady von Christ and Lady von Khrennikov."

Yozak smiled at that. He didn't believe for a moment that Murata was actually afraid of anyone, but after the incident with T-Zhou it was probably best not to tempt fate. "Good point. Although I wouldn't underestimate the maids either. There is strength in numbers and they are practically spies themselves."

"I'm not. That's why it is your turn."

"Whatever you say, Geika. I live to serve. Think you can handle being the look out?"

"Watching is what I do best."

Truer words had seldom been spoken.

The two men entered the castle and made their way to their target destination. The hall outside the maids' chambers was quiet. The other scavenger hunt teams must have been working elsewhere and hopefully the maids were following them around in search of juicy gossip instead of loitering in their rooms.

Murata leaned against the wall, trying to look inconspicuous. For him that meant hiding behind his reflective glasses and whistling. Who would ever suspect a whistler after all?

Advisors advise. They don't participate. That's what gets them into trouble.

Murata was beginning to get twitchy as more and more time ticked by. He wondered how the other man was even planning on accessing the room. It was quite a climb to their window, and he was fairly sure that none of the circulation or heating ducts ran anywhere useful for this particular operation.

He became increasingly sure that they would be caught, which wouldn't have been too bad except that it would lower their odds of winning. Maybe they should have just gone to the shrine. He could have gained access to Ulrike's room fairly easily. Then again, he didn't want to be on the pointy end of the shrine maidens' bad side if they found out about it.

One of the castle guards walked by, startling the sage. He laughed, running a hand through his hair as innocently as possible. "Nice hallways, don't you think?"

The soldier gave him a confused look and nodded politely before continuing his rounds.

Just as Murata leaned back against the door it swung open. He would have fallen if Yozak hasn't caught him for the second time that day. "Nice hallways? Remind me not to take you spying anytime soon."

"How did you even...?"

"I have my ways," Yozak replied with a confident grin. "And my ways include a key to their back door." He pulled a pair of silky, pink panties just far enough out of his pocket for Murata to see. "What's next?"

"Well, we have the toy bearbee and a painting of kohi…"

"Given Gwendal's skills as a knitter and Wolfram's talent as a painter," Yozak said with a smirk, "we'll be lucky if either of those things are actually what we think they are."

Murata let the man's ribbing of the other men pass without comment. "It looks like there is just one more thing."

"One of the forbidden boxes? A picture of Conrad frowning? A good reason for Raven's side bangs?"

"Something you'll never forget," read the advisor.

"Okay, you have my attention. What is it?"

"No, I mean, the list actually says, 'something you'll never forget.'"

Shaking his head, Yozak murmured, "I'm going to have to talk to the kid about his birthday party games in the future. What's wrong with the drinking version of pin the tail on the sandbear anyway?"

"Do you mean other than what happened last time when the stables were nearly burned down? "

"Right, other than that."

Murata flashed the taller man an almost pouting smile. "Should I be disappointed that you didn't enjoy our teamwork?"

"I'd just enjoy it more if we managed to win."

"Well, in that case…" Murata took a deep breath and then pushed himself up on his toes, hands pressed against Yozak's chest as their lips met.

The spy reacted with surprise, but not so much that he pulled away. It took a moment for the act to register and for him to respond, but respond he did. His calloused hand lifted up to gently tip back Murata's head, giving him better access to the secretive mouth.

Pulling away was a reluctant, but mutual, act once it was determined that oxygen was still necessary for continued breathing.

"So…" Yozak began.

"All done," Murata proclaimed, cutting off the other man's suspected question.

"All done?"

"Yes, with the scavenger hunt."

Yozak looked appropriately confused, raising an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yozak, I'm hurt. Are you telling me you'll forget that?" And without another word, the great sage made his way down the hall to the throne room where Cheri would judge the various collections and determine the winning team. Yozak trailed behind him with a grin on his face.

Murata wasn't sure who would be the first to collect all of the items, but he was sure about who had won.


End file.
